GSA list will aid smart-card buys

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Agencies soon will have access to a group of vendors that can help them meet the new smart-card governmentwide standard.

The General Services Administration is combing the Federal Supply Service's IT Schedule for companies with products and services that comply with the Federal Information Processing Standard 201 requirements for personal-identity verification, said Judith Spencer, chairwoman of GSA's Federal ID Credentialing Committee.

GSA will set up a program management office and create a subset category on Schedule 70 listing the compliant components, Spencer said.

'We will put in place bulk purchase agreements for agencies,' she said this month at the fourth annual Smart Cards in eGovernment Conference in Washington. 'This will be a one-stop shop for everything agencies need to do.'

GSA previously managed an aggregate buy for the departments of Defense, Interior and Veterans Affairs, and the three received a reduced rate on smart-card products, Spencer said. 'We want to continue to do that.'

Additionally, GSA will modify the current governmentwide smart-card acquisition contract to make sure vendors' products and services meet the new requirements.

'We need to have conformance-testing requirements by this summer,' Spencer said. 'All products and services need to go through this testing.'